In a conventional fiber-optic communication system, optical switches store their own local switching data. Network-wide provisioning data is not stored within the optical switches and, therefore, not generally available at the operator's terminal (i.e., craft terminal). When there is a fault in the network, a network management system tries to identify the root cause of the fault using alarm information received from the optical switches (and other elements in the network). Because the optical switches do not have an unlimited number of alarm detectors, such means of isolating and identifying fault is very imprecise.